Apparatus for reducing railway-rails



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. W. H. HOWELLS. APPARATUS FOR REDUCING RAILWAY RAILS.

No. 425,073. Patented Apr. 8, 1890.

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I APPARATUS FOR REDUCING RAILWAY RAILS.

Patented Apr. 8, 1890 nvmvron BY (0 W- Afro/my WITNESSES:

- rails, and has for its object reducing large- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM HOPKIN HOVELLS, OF BRIDGEPORT, OHIO.

APPARATUS FOR REDUCING RAILWAY-RAILS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,073, dated. April 8, 1890.

' Application filed February 9 1889- Serial No. 299,344. (No model.) A

To aZZ whom it nmy concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HOPKIN How- ELLS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Belmont and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulIrnprovements in the Apparatus for Reducing Railway-Rails from Large to Smaller Sizes of Cross-Section; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to the re-rolling of sized T-rails to those of smaller dimensions; and it consists in a series of rolls turned with the grooves or passes to receive the rails to compress them first in the direction of their height, and upsetting the web, combined with converging guides, which conform in a measure to the shape and size of the head and base of the rail, and guiding the same into the rolls to prevent torsion, and other grooves or passes in the rolls which straighten the web laterally, and by the combined act-ion of guides resist the tendency to twist incident to the unequal compression and extension in different parts of the rail, as hereinafter described,

and shown in the accompanying drawings.

The method of treating rails by first thickening the web and afterward extending them in length and reducing the thickness and height is the subject of a distinct application filed and serially numbered.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a plan of the apparatus; Fig. 2, a front view thereof; Fig. 3, a rear view; Fig. 4, a transverse vertical section showing the guides and their relative positions to the rolls. Fig. 5 is a vertical section through a guidein the plane indicated by the dotted line X X in Fig. 4.

The same referencemarks indicate like parts in the several figures.

1. represents the top roll; 2, the middle roll; 3, the lower roll; t and 5, the housings; G,the boxes; 7 and 8, guide-rests;-9, journals with projecting ends through which motion is imparted to the rolls, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 4.

The rolls are grooved, so as to form several passes, and marked, respectively, in the order in which they are used, a, b, 0, (Z, e, f, g, and 7L. Opposite the pass a, and between the middle roll 2 and lower roll 3, is placed a pair of guides 10, consisting of two cheek-pieces 11 and 12, fitting upon the guide-rest 7, so as to embrace the front and rear edges and to afford lateral support to a T-rail placed in inverted position between them. The inner surface of the guide-cheeks 11 and 12 is made so as to conform in a measure to the shape of the inverted T-rail placed between them, flaring at the entrance and converging between the roll. A cap'plate 13 is secured to the cheeks 11 and 12, which prevents the rail from lifting above the cheeks, and also serves to confine the cheeks 11 and 12 laterally. ,In front of the second pass Z) is another pair of guide-cheeks l5 and 16, which serve to guide the rail when placed upon its side in its entrance to the rollsand rests upon the upper guide-rests S. This also is provided with a 01.1) let and conforms approximately internally to the shape of the T-rail as placed upon its side. The form of the rails and the pass I) is such as to straighten any bulging or lateral deflections of the web which may have taken place during its compression when rolled through the first pass. The pass 0 has placed before it on the lower guide-rest 7 another pair of guide-cheeks ll and 12, with a cap 13, simi- -lar in construction to those'described as in front of pass a, but differing in proportions, to adapt it to the diminished height of the rails and increased thickness of the web consequent upon the rolling effected in the passes a and b. On the upper guide-rest 8, in front of the pass I), is another pair of guides 15 and 16, similar to those described in front of the pass I), but of proportions adapted to fit and guide the rail as diminished in height and thickened in the web by the previous rolling in the passes a, b, and c. This system of alternate straightening and vertical compression and reduction in the height and thickening of web attended with reduction of the head and flanges or base of the rail, continues in the same manner and through passes until the rail under treatment has assumed the form of the bar partially formed into a rail such as is usually formed in the rolling of the smaller rails from bars rolled expressly therefor directly from billets, after which the bar passes through other finishing passes, or a series of such finishing passes, which re duce and extend the web, flanges, and head simultaneously, as in the usual finishing operations of rolling rails. The cap-plates upon the cheeks of the guides need not be separately formed, although that is the most convenient, and they are not necessarily extended across so as to unite each pair of checks, but may be in the shape of flanges formed with the cheeks, and the cheeks held laterally in position by keys, belts, or other equivalent mechanical expedients. The manner of holding them bybolts is illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

IIeretofore in rolls for reducing railwayrails the flange of one roll was arranged to force itself between the collarsof the adjoining roll at the base of the rail, and thereby formed a fin or feather the entire length of the rail, and it is necessary to provide a special pass in the rolls to reduce the tin or feather on the rail. I arrange the collar on one roll of each, pass to meet the collaron the adjoining roll at the base of the rail, as indicated atj in Fig. 2 of the drawings, whereby a small bead is formed on the base of the rail, which head will be reduced in the succeeding pass.

The collars on the passes of the rolls at the base of the rail are shown in the drawin as divided at an angle to the base of the rail; but this is not essential, it is only necessary to divide or separate the collars of the rolls at some point along the flat base of the rail, the angular division of the adjacent collars tending to add to the strength of the same.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an apparatus for reducing railroadrails, a set of red ucin g-rolls having two series of passes, one of the series of passes being shaped and proportioned to compress or reduce the rails in the direction of their height, and the other series of passes being adapted to straighten the web laterally, combined with fixed guides, one of which is arranged in front of each pass and is of such interior configuration or shape as to prevent twisting of the rail, and thereby insure correct guidance of the latter through the pass, substantially as described.

2. In sets of three-high rolls for roughly reducing rails to smaller sizes, the collar of the one roll meeting the collar of the other at an angle and at or near the middle of the base of the rail, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In combination with a set of three-high rolls for reducing rails to smaller sizes, the guide-boxes, consisting of the two vertical pieces attached together by a flat plate, and the bell-mouth front entrance to the box,suhstantially as set forth.

4. In a set of three-high rolls for reducing railroad-rails, a stationary guide having the convergin g sides shaped to conform either partially or wholly to the shape of the rail, and the cap-plates fixed to said sides, combined and arranged for service substantially rs heroin shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoingI hereunto allix my signature this 19th day of January, A. D. 1889.

WILLIAM I IOPKIN IIOWELLS.

Witnesses:

M. E. HARRISON, J. A. IIERRON. 

